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Challenge To See Same-Sex Couples Recognized Launched In Alabama

A challenge against the non-recognition of same-sex marriages in Alabama was launched.

Paul Hard, a gay man who lost her husband in a car accident and who said hospital staff refused to give him any information about his husband's condition because the two weren't considered legally related, as reports The Associated Press, decided to institute proceedings against the state to get the recognition of same-sex marriages performed in states allowing marriage equality.

"The sanctity laws silence and demean lesbian and gay Alabamians by sending a clear message: You are less than other citizens and your relationships mean nothing here," said Samuel E. Wolfe, a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is representing Paul.

"If I can let people know how this law unjustly and cruelly affects people, I will do it. Ultimately, I hope these laws are overturned so it no longer gives folks permission to treat Americans as second-class citizens," Paul said.

In 2006, voters of Alabama approved the same-sex recognition ban in the state's consitution.